Could Kansas challenge Kansas State on Saturday?

I know, I know: I should never say it can’t possibly get worse.

But… it can’t.

If you’re ESPN or CBS Sports, you’ve already written the Jayhawks off for Saturday’s Sunflower Showdown battle with the Kansas State Wildcats. KU is a 25-point underdog, and who can blame the oddsmakers? The Jayhawks haven’t scored a point in three weeks. Here’s what the analysts at My Top Sportsbooks are saying:

“Kansas State is an almost exactly replacement level FBS team, with a good offense and a slightly worse than average defense. Kansas, on the other hand, is a truly woeful program, with one of the worst offenses in the country and one of the worst defenses. The spread reflects that, currently sitting at 25 points in Kansas State’s favor, and the real question is whether the Jayhawks’ string of scoreless routs will continue. Losing 45-0 to Iowa State was bad, losing 43-0 to TCU and failing to gain more than 21 yards of total offense was worse, and now playing at home against an in-state rival is a nightmare for head coach David Beaty. The Wildcats may not be on par with Kansas’ recent tormentors, but they are good enough to utterly dominate this game and our NCAA football experts at mytopsportsbooks.com favor laying the points.”

But that could all change on Saturday when the Wildcats come into Lawrence, looking to continue their winning trend against their in-state rivals.

K-State’s defense stands tough, but the Wildcats’ offense has been controlled in recent weeks. The Jayhawks’ defense has been the bright spot on the team, and I believe they’ll be able to keep K-State in check for the offense to hang around. As for the KU offense, it can’t get any worse. The Jayhawks’ passing offense is better than K-State’s. Something has to be drawn up. Something has to make sense eventually. This isn’t a good team, but they have to score again… eventually.

Bottom line: I think the Jayhawks, who have been absolutely humiliated in consecutive weeks, will come out with pride. They’re at home. They’re playing their biggest rival. And simply put, they can’t play any worse. I think a 25-point spread is way too much for K-State, who is 3-4 and hasn’t been part of a Big 12 contest that’s been a wider scoring margin than 20 this year.

Rock Chalk.

Related

Ryan Landreth

I’m a recent graduate of MidAmerica Nazarene University. In addition to writing for Rock Chalk Blog, I host the Inside the Paint podcast that covers KU basketball, and I write for Royals Review in the summer. My grandma has had season tickets to Jayhawk basketball for 30 years, and I have the privilege of going to most games with her.